The UK is leading the way in proptech investment in Europe, according to a new report from Oxford Saïd Business School.
As of June 2019, more than $5bn (£3.9bn) was invested in 805 UK proptech companies – five times more than Germany.
Venture capital funding rocketed to $14bn in the first half of 2019 and has grown by more than six times its 2015 amount in just two years – twice as fast as the fintech market.
All signs now point to a proptech market that is maturing, with a decrease in new start-ups corresponding with an increase in funding. Mergers and acquisitions within the market have also increased, rising from nine in the 2nd quarter of 2017 to 24 in the first quarter of 2019.
For traditional real estate companies, the most significant harbinger of disruption is the entrance of the tech giants into real estate, says the report. Amazon, Apple and Facebook all made forays into the sector in 2019, with Facebook announcing a $1bn affordable housing initiative in October. The report predicts that these companies will leverage the wealth of data they possess to create complementary proptech offerings.
Professor Andrew Baum, leader of the Oxford Future of Real Estate Initiative, said: “Our report demonstrates that the proptech movement is reaching a critical mass. Regulatory roadblocks remain, but the first companies to overcome them will reap huge rewards. 2020 looks set to be a year of disruption for the real estate industry.”
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